United States: the abyss so feared?

More than a hundred years after the end of the Civil War in the United States, during the recent assault on January 6 by Trump’s acolytes, the Confederate flag flew in the Capitol, raising multiple questions about the future of the nation.

President Trump’s self-coup by inciting his followers to the violent takeover of the US Congress building and threatening to lynch not only representatives of the Democratic Party, but Vice-President Pence himself for certifying Biden’s victory, has resulted in so much to pressure on the Trump cabinet to apply Amendment 25 – which could declare the president’s disqualification in the few days remaining before Biden’s inauguration -, such as the beginning of a second impeachment process for the outgoing president in the Congress, promoted by the Democrats with the support of some Republican representatives.

In fact, the events of January 6 precipitated a series of unprecedented questions and tensions on the political establishment in Washington, on US political institutions and on security agencies and organizations.

Until now, democratic institutions have prevailed; Unlike other hemispheric experiences, the military has embraced the responsibilities dictated by the constitution, and large US corporations have shown a wide spectrum of manifestations of repudiation of the incitement to insurrection promoted by the outgoing president, ranging from the suspension of your Twitter account until the withdrawal or suspension of donations and contributions to Republican congressmen who have supported Trump-

But these demonstrations are just the tip of the iceberg in a series of deeper processes that have been unfolding, for decades, within American society and that reveal a little-known “deep America”.

The assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters – including different far-right groups and white supremacists; of Qanon fans persuaded of the existence of a conspiracy hatched by the “deep state” against Trump, in complicity with the Democrats and a network of pedophiles associated with them, and even of veterans and members of the security forces – , are the most visible and most radical part of a popular support for Trump that was clearly expressed in the more than 75 million votes he obtained in the presidential elections.

Although several recent polls reveal that more than half of this broad sector of voters condemn the events of January 6, they also show a deep fragmentation of American society and a worrying trend on the part of low-educated, white sectors of marked identification with evangelical fundamentalisms and conspiracy theories, who have believed, without question, in the many fallacies promoted by Trump, including the persistence in the idea that fraud was committed in the elections.

While the debate in Washington power circles continues to advance about the measures to be taken to limit Trump’s power in the coming days and prevent his eventual return to politics, on January 11 the FBI warned that before and, possibly, during Biden’s inauguration on January 20, a succession of violent and probably armed mobilizations were to take place in the federal district of Washington and in the capitals of 50 states.

With a section of the armed population, radicalized and persuaded by Trump that the presidential elections were a fraud perpetrated by the Democrats, the concern and uncertainty in the face of an outbreak of civil war is not limited to Washington and affects all of American society. At the same time, it opens new questions about the possibilities of President Biden, once installed in the White House, not only to unify and order a fragmented nation but also to restore soft power and the influence and international projection of the United States seriously damaged. during the Trump presidency.

Particularly when Secretary of State Pompeo’s most recent decisions – putting Cuba back on the list of terrorist states and defying China’s threat of a confrontation in the South Sea in the next 10 days, among others – leaves the ground mined for everything. attempt to rebuild a foreign policy different from the legacy left by Trump.

Andrés Serbin is an international analyst. President of CRIES

Look also
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source https://pledgetimes.com/united-states-the-abyss-so-feared/